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26 October 2009

Naked Teachers & Penthouse Magazine...

It would seem that being a teacher and getting your gear off do not mix under any circumstances. This is not a case of a teacher getting their gear off and fiddling with one of their students. This is a story about a New Zealand teacher who decided that it would be a good idea to get her gear off for Australian Penthouse magazine. The offending pictures are supposedly available on their website. Stuff NZ broke the story here.

On second thoughts this might not have been such a good idea. the New Zealand Teachers Council is now investigating. Sounds like a good excuse for the Teachers Council to go and get themselves a few copies of the magazine or open up the website, for research of course.

The young woman, Rachel Whitwell, apparently dates a pornographer. So, in that sense it does not seem to be an unlikely scenario that she might be convinced to get her kit off. The proof of the pudding is in the viewing, and there are six photos to be viewed. Among the six photos are two full-nudes. Oh, to be able to post those. Perhaps, I should post them for educational purposes. You know, what not to do if you are a teacher. Anyways, for those of you that want the full monty, then look here. The two pictures posted above are the more modest of the six available.

According to Whitwell, aka Lexy, the photos are not her only claim to fame. She is also a bit of a writer, having penned a number of erotic stories for magazines and runs her very own pole-dancing studio. I wonder if this means that teaching does not pay all that well in New Zealand.

Nevertheless, the Teachers Council feels that this is a case where the public and private lives of a teacher overlap and the claims must be investigated. It appears though that the photos might prove a little bit difficult to disown seeing they have been professionally done. So, the need for an investigation is an interesting call.

Perhaps a meeting to find out why the photos were done and whether there was any consideration on how posing for Penthouse might impact on Ms. Whitwell's ability to teach in a classroom. Yet, even then, the reasons are pretty obvious, the young woman is exploring whether or not she has what it takes to be a model.

Ms. Whitwell is registered to teach in New Zealand through to 2011. However, she is currently having time off to care for her young daughter, and to pose for nude and topless photographs when she is not in full-on caring mode.

The issue that the Teachers Council will look at is whether this little excursion into modelling will negatively impact on her ability to do her job. For others there seems to be a few morality issues to consider as well. It would seem that teachers are role models, and as such posing topless and naked in a well known magazine like Penthouse, or their website, is not a good example for children.

I am not sure that I ascribe to the view that getting your kit off in any impacts the skills one has or does not have as a teacher. Just because people have seen her naked will not make one iota of difference to whether or not she is a skilled teacher. The question is whether or not now that plenty of people, her colleagues, and perhaps some of her students have seen her in all her glory whether the perception of her abilities change?

They probably do.

Why this post? I am thinking about getting some formal qualifications as a teacher. I am not thinking about getting into modelling or getting my kit of for Playgirl or something (even if I wasn't the fat ugly bugger that I am).